September 2012

September 22, 2012

It took little more than five hours for the first Apple iPhone 5 to go on sale in the Chinese mainland after being smuggled across the border from Hong Kong, but supplies were short and prices high. That's the latest news from Taiwan this morning along with other tidbits about Hon Hai Precision's latest acquisition, a new camera technology coming to market in 2013 that's worth keeping an eye on and Apple files for the 'Mountain Lion' trademark.

September 21, 2012

The Korean Times is reporting this morning that "Apple has reduced purchases of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for tablet computers from Samsung Display amid the deepening patent disputes, said a leading market research firm, Friday. Market experts said that the move is aimed at minimizing its reliance on Samsung parts."

September 20, 2012

A Reno Nevada company by the name of Unwired Planet Inc. (NASDAQ: UPIP), formerly Openwave Systems, appears to be gambling on a patent infringement suit against Apple. The company is claiming that most everything Apple sells in the way of products and services are in direct violation of ten specific patents that they own. According to information on their website, Unwired Planet filed a complaint in 2011 with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington, DC, requesting that the ITC bar Apple Inc. from importing into the United States their smartphones and tablet computers that they believed infringed on Unwired Planet patents. Unwired Planet also simultaneously filed a similar complaint in federal district court in Delaware. Unwired Planet is asking the court to award them "reasonable royalties" and much more if Apple is found guilty.

On September 20, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a series of 17 patent applications from Apple. In this report we cover three patent applications relating to various manufacturing processes related to iDevices. In our recent report titled Apple's Leadership and Magic Shine Through we presented a segment covering Sir Jony Ive on the iPhone 5 and the many manufacturing processes associated with it. Jony takes such pride in his work that it shines through in every product. And so it's always fascinating to see new processes being revealed in patent filings. If you happen to appreciate the making of products, like I do, then I think that you'll enjoy this report and the links to each patent. In other IP news, Apple has been granted a registered trademark for VoicePass.

On September 20, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a series of 17 patent applications from Apple. In this report we briefly cover Apple's latest efforts at harnessing power through electromagnetic induction. Apple has something up their sleeve for better powering future devices longer. While I'm not sure that today's invention is the magic bullet, Apple's Phil Schiller thinks there's a better solution out there. He just doesn't want to spill the beans just yet … maybe. Time will tell.

Just last week Apple introduced their new 'EarPods' for iPhone 5. The day prior to Apple's Special Event, the US Patent Office cued up Apple's trademark filing but didn't publish it until after Apple's event. To finalize it all, we get to actually see Apple's patent application detailing their invention today. To top off today's report, we'll take a brief look at a few of the key iPhone 5 patents that were fulfilled last week.

On September 20, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals a new facial recognition locking and unlocking iDevice system. In late 2011 we posted our report titled "Apple Envisions Face & Presence Detection Security for iOS Devices" which uncovered Apple's first patent application regarding the possible future use of facial recognition for unlocking an iDevice. That invention covered a method to recognize your presence and face to quickly turn on your device. Today's invention takes a few different twists that very interesting. I'm sure that die-hard Androiders will be up in arms today pointing to Google's feature and patent – but Apple's invention adds so much more depth. We'll point you to Google's patent for those wishing to compare the two inventions to be fair. Yet at the end of the day, Apple's invention – especially if they combine it with 'Presence' technology, will have a unique product that will simply outshine Google's implementation, plain and simple.

Earlier this month we posted a rather exciting report titled "Microsoft Envisions where Gaming is going and its Wild" that gamers around the world responded to enthusiastically. In our first report we covered Microsoft's future immersive video gaming system whereby your gaming environment would be projected onto all of the walls of your family room. The example that we initially covered in our first report was that of a first person shooter. In a limited follow-up patent application, Microsoft reveals yet another wild scenario that could be very cool to play. Microsoft's patent filing is very interesting with their main focus being on their futuristic motion camera.

September 19, 2012

Korea IT News is reporting this morning that Korean firms have to learn a lesson from the patent litigation between Samsung Electronics and Apple and further their efforts for technological innovation while shifting the focus of their competition paradigm from enterprises to consumers.

The Korean Times is reporting this morning that their legal executive source has confirmed that Apple will ask "Federal Judge Lucy H. Koh to triple the damages Samsung has been ordered to pay," to $3 billion for willfully copying the iPhone and iPad on Friday, September 21. Top Samsung lawyer John Quinn has reportedly said that the company will be asking Koh to toss the jury findings out. If she doesn't, the lawyer said he will appeal.

Wow, out of nowhere newly granted patents for Apple reveal MacBooks, an iMac and possibly a TV having cellular and television circuitry built in. If that wasn't enough, Apple reveals a possible future iPad with a built-in stand that incorporates a cellular antenna. Why say more – take a look for yourself.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a technically important LTE data services patent that specifically pertains to a method and system for estimating the wireless channel in the presence of inter-carrier interference. But let's be honest here; at this point in time, every LTE patent is going to be crucial for Apple who just released their new iPhone 5 with LTE. In early September Samsung began making statements in Korea that they would be suing Apple over LTE. Our report covering those statements also noted that Apple had amassed 434 LTE patents for their own LTE portfolio.

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirty-four newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first granted patent of the day, we focus on Apple's latest granted patent relating to one of the original 2007 iPhone touch technology patents. This type of touch related patents could potentially be used in future litigation. This particular patent relates to methods and devices that identify and discriminate multiple simultaneous hover or touch events such as, for example, two or more closely grouped fingers, palm heels from one or more fingers, fingers from thumbs, and fingers from ears and cheeks. Our report also covers a design win for Apple's Magic Trackpad along with links to another eleven utility patents worth noting.

September 17, 2012

Last week Apple delivered an incredible line up of new products at their special event with the iPhone 5 being its centerpiece. Apple's entire core executive team came out one by one to deliver a winning event that showed us once again, that the Crazy Ones of Cupertino still have their magic mojo. But not all agree with this view as one might expect. According to some visionless critics, the iPhone 5 marked the end of innovation for Apple. Not just for the iPhone but the iPad as well. Yet Tim Cook smacked the competition with a few realistic and humorous facts about the iPad and Phil Schiller took off his gloves and gave the competition a good black eye in respect to the new iPhone 5. Our report takes a look at what some of what these critics charged Apple with and provide you with over 30 quality photos from last week's event that were memorable.